Tyler, a Democrat who faces a challenge from Republican Rick Enstrom in House District 23, passed on this e-mail from his son, Roger:

Hey Pops,

I thought I should let you know that your 54 Chevy truck is famous thousands of miles away.

I was hitchhiking from Denali National Park in Alaska back to Talkeetna for work and watching the cars go by counting to see how many it would take to get a ride when a van (#5) passed me towing a U-haul trailer. I figured there was no hope of getting a ride from a group of what looked like kids. All of a sudden I heard honking and turned around to see they had pulled over and a guy was getting out of the van to open the trailer to throw my pack in!

Joey Bunch has been a reporter for 28 years, including the last 12 at The Denver Post. For various newspapers he has covered the environment, water issues, politics, civil rights, sports and the casino industry.